"When Lilama heard Peters' statement, she approached the injured
man--the friend of her childhood and her girlhood--and did what little
she could to make his position at least appear more comfortable.
"There was no possible way for the divided party to unite, other than by
returning several miles down the mountain-side. Now that Lilama was
safe, and Ahpilus not only mentally alienated from his people but also
physically helpless, a kindly feeling came to the party for their old
friend thus reduced to a condition doubly lamentable, and very pitiable
to persons so refined and sensitive as were the Hili-lites. There was
some discussion on the subject of Ahpilus's future; and then Peters said
that he could easily carry the injured man down the mountain-side. This
he at once began to do; and in the course of four or five hours, during
which he stopped for a rest a number of times, he reached a point in the
descent at which the canyon narrowed to a width of not more than ten
feet, and across which a rude foot-bridge of logs had been constructed.
Lilama, as well as those on the opposite side of the chasm, had kept
pace with Peters; and the divided party now came together.
"Ahpilus was gently placed on the ground; and as his old friends
gathered about him it was observed that not only had consciousness
returned, but that the helpless man looked quite the Ahpilus of former
and happier days.
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